Rewrite Of Pennsylvania Property Tax Sale Laws Is Tool In Blight Fight

Map of Pennsylvania, showing major cities and roads (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  This can’t happen soon enough!

HARRISBURG – Affordable housing advocates are urging a reform of Pennsylvania’s property tax sale laws to help fight blight in both large cities and small towns.

They want to overhaul a system that allows speculators to obtain a lien on property at tax sales by paying delinquent taxes and yet not go the next step and obtain clear title.

Other legislation being sought would give long-standing residents the opportunity to take ownership of homes in cases where the recorded owner has abandoned them and put more restrictions on who can bid at property tax sales.

Rewriting archaic tax sale laws that date to the 1920s and 1940s is seen as a way to help fiscally distressed cities rebuild their tax bases and help get newly authorized land banks off the ground.

Read more:  http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/rewrite-of-property-tax-sale-laws-is-tool-in-blight-fight-1.1414337

State: No Bailout For Scranton

HARRISBURG, PA – Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty lobbied Corbett administration officials and leading lawmakers Monday to provide a new sales tax revenue stream to his fiscally troubled city.

Meanwhile, a top state official told city residents not to expect a state bailout for immediate budget problems.

Mr. Doherty said during a visit to the state Capitol that enacting a state law to give Scranton a share of a countywide 1 percent sales tax would be a way to recognize the city’s lead role in a state court case that resulted in it owing millions of dollars of back arbitration awards to city firefighters and police officers.

“We are the one that fought the battle for DCED in Act 47; here is a way to help us out,” Mr. Doherty said.

Read more: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/state-no-bailout-for-scranton-1.1328492